Abstract

The quantitative method was adopted in order to measure the relationship among emotional intelligence, leadership styles, communication patterns and job satisfaction of college principals. Through cross sectional research design and by adopting convenient sampling procedure, the research participants (268) of age range between 40 – 65 years were accessed from different colleges of Lahore. The indigenous demographic questionnaire in addition to Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), by Bass and Avolio (2000), Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS), by Spector (1994), Emotional intelligence questionnaire (EI) by Goleman (1995) and Communication Pattern Questionnaire by Christensen and Heavey (1990) was used. The findings revealed that emotional intelligence, emotional management, motivating oneself, empathy and managing others’ emotions were negatively related with passive avoidant leadership and positively correlated with communication patterns and job satisfaction. Also, self-awareness and both transformational and transactional leadership style were found to have a significant positive relationship with communication patterns and job satisfaction. Passive-avoidant leadership style was negatively correlated with communication patterns and job satisfaction. Furthermore, communication patterns were positively correlated with job satisfaction. The years of work experience, education, leadership style, communication patterns and age were found to be successful predictors of job satisfaction of college principals in Lahore. The findings carry strong implication for policy makers and for higher management in order to improve the quality of work life for college principals.